Prosocial rule breaking in the work environment: an empirical analysis of the outcomes

Abstract

Integrating theorizing across the prosocial rule breaking and burnout literature, we hypothesize that prosocial rule breaking increase emotional exhaustion and decreases, instead, personal effectiveness. We further propose that process of moral disengagement and moral identity mediate this effect. Overall, results proved substantial evidence that prosocial rule breaking is positively related to moral disengagement and negatively to moral identity. While the study did not find any evidence that prosocial rule breaking can affect burnout, a strong mediation effect was found with moral identity which can actually predict the relation between prosocial rule breaking and personal effectiveness.